Education: Revolt in a Football Palace

How the faculty tackled the sacred game at S.M.U.

Describing the Southwest Conference, the Dallas Morning News headlined LEAGUE OF ILL REPUTE. It was no small scold in a year when athletic chicanery in other college athletic associations has prompted court cases involving charges of fraud, illegal firing and point shaving. But the Southwest Conference, where four of nine universities are on probation or are being investigated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, has a special claim to dubious distinction: Southern Methodist University in Dallas, whose six N.C.A.A. probations in the past 28 years make it the reputed all-time leader among penalized schools. In mid-November, while under a three-year probation...